


Cumulonimbus

by TheMightyFlynn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bad Weather, Explicit Language, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-20 03:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8234492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMightyFlynn/pseuds/TheMightyFlynn
Summary: In all the years of their married life, Percy believed that Severus hadn’t once had a stupider or more dangerous idea.





	

**Author's Note:**

> To my prompter: thank you for such an interesting pairing! I hope you like what I came up with for them! Also, a huge thanks to smirkingcat for the beta!
> 
> This was written for the 2016 hp-drizzle fest on livejournal for the prompt: "Waking up from the sound of rain drumming on the roof."

Percy had never liked travelling, especially in inclement weather. Unfortunately for him, however, inclement weather was exactly what he and Severus had been travelling in for the past week. The reason was simple: Severus was searching for a particular mushroom; one that only grew during the worst part of a magical thunderstorm. He had informed Percy of his intention to go searching for this mushroom nearly a month previously, stating that he would be leaving on a two-week journey on his own. This had, of course, sounded like one of the worst ideas Severus had ever had, but Percy had known that there would be no stopping him once he got the idea in his head.

Searching for his own potions ingredients was one of the few times that Percy was able to get Severus out of their house these days. The man had turned into such a bloody recluse after the end of the war that Percy was a little surprised he still knew that there _was_ such a thing as weather anymore, so for him to choose to go out searching for this mushroom on his own had been more than a little worrying. There had been nothing for it: Percy had had no other choice but to take leave from the Ministry and go along with him.

Severus’ version of a ‘two-week journey’ had turned out to be him traipsing through wet forest after wet forest in an attempt to discover any trace of the mushroom left after the thunderstorm had passed. They had been chasing the storm as it made its way up north for the past week, with Severus becoming more and more frustrated with his lack of results. It had come to a head that morning, with Severus declaring his intention to ‘get past the bloody storm and find that fucking mushroom’, as he had so elegantly put it. This announcement had, of course, sent visions of Severus standing in the middle of an open field, his arms stretched heavenward, cackling madly as lightning flashed all around him through Percy’s apparently wildly overactive imagination. He shivered a little as worry flashed through him once again at the image.

“Are you going to stand outside the entire night? Don’t get me wrong, I admire your dedication to a cause that you seem to, up until now, have been completely apathetic to. However, standing in one spot probably will not produce the intended results.”

Percy rolled his eyes at Severus’ sarcasm. No matter how much he wanted to, though, he could not fault the man on this one: he _was_ standing outside the cabin they had rented for the next few days, just staring up at the darkened sky.

Edwinstowe in Sherwood Forest was not a place Percy had ever imagined himself having to go to. He had, if he was to be truly honest, not even known that there was any kind of magical community there. Although, he supposed it should have occurred to him, what with Robin Hood having lived there so many years before. He shivered as a cool gust of wind blew his fringe into his face. Casting one last glance up to the sky, he got a quick look at black clouds shifting swiftly above him, pushed by the cold winds.

_The gust front_ , his mind supplied, causing him to sigh.

Severus’ obsession with this storm had, apparently, been rubbing off on him if he could identify parts of the bloody cloud base by sight alone. Severus had been mumbling about ‘gust fronts’ and ‘updraughts’ and ‘anvil tops’ for the past month, studying what he would need to know if he were to actually manage to catch up with the storm. It was enough to do Percy’s head in, what with all the charts and maps Severus had spread around their house.

Shaking his head to clear it as he realised that this could very well be the final night of their journey if the storm was approaching this quickly, Percy took the two steps that led into the small cabin with a hop. The fire and sconces flickered to life the second Percy entered, illuminating the combined living room/kitchen/bedroom. The kitchenette stood off to his right, a double bed to his left, and one ratty old lounge directly in front of him, blocking what little heat the fire was offering. There were two doors just to the right of the fireplace, leading, he assumed, to the back of the property and to the bathroom respectively. It was… disgusting, to put it lightly.

“Are you just going to stand in the doorway the entire night?”

“I, uh… Sorry.”

Percy stood aside, allowing Severus to march into the room, his arms loaded with even more maps and charts. Severus spread them out over any available flat surface and, without even pausing to check to see whether he had closed the door to the cabin behind him, he set to work checking the charts against the maps and mumbling to himself yet again. With his head bent over the bench, his long hair – now much more grey than black – falling in curtains over his face, and his black robes still swishing around his feet, Severus closely resembled the giant bat that Percy had once, childishly, believed him to be.

“Severus?”

“Yes?”

Percy stood staring at him without speaking, simply watching as his long, potions-stained fingers traced lines and graphs on the charts before him. He knew that his worry over what Severus was planning on doing that night was probably ridiculous and he knew that Severus had survived much worse than a magical thunderstorm. However, he also knew that this knowledge wouldn’t stop him from worrying about him. After everything that had occurred both during and after the war, Percy was quite happy with the knowledge that he had found even one person in whom he could place his full trust and confidence; one person who wouldn’t judge him for his past mistakes. He would be absolutely damned if he was going to lose him to a bloody weather system after all of this.

“Are you absolutely certain about this?”

Severus sighed, his fingers freezing on a line they had been tracing on the map. “We have been through this,” he murmured, not even bothering to look up at Percy. “You know that I need these mushrooms. You know that they are an essential ingredient in many of the more complicated Healing potions that I must brew for the Ministry. In fact, your brother and brother-in-law would be in quite a bit of pain if I did not have the required skill to be able to provide the Aurors with these kinds of Healing potions.”

“They’re _your_ brothers-in-law as well, you know,” Percy mumbled as his eyes flicked down to the wedding ring shining dully in the firelight on Severus’ left hand. He was unsurprised when his words were ignored.

“These mushrooms must be picked during this thunderstorm at this time each year. The previous few years that I have purchased them rather than picking them myself, they have been damaged; some beyond usefulness.” Another cold gust of wind blew in the open door of the cabin, ruffling the charts. Severus flicked his hand, closing the door with a thought before continuing as though he had not been interrupted. “I simply do not trust anyone else with the task of picking these mushrooms.”

Percy’s lips compressed as he stood and stared at Severus, trying to work out a way to say _I care about you too much to allow you to risk your life for a fucking mushroom_ without getting himself mocked for the rest of his natural life. Having been with Severus for the amount of years he had – they were approaching their twelfth wedding anniversary later that year, in fact – Percy knew that a simple statement of his feelings would most likely be met with no small amount of eye rolling and then be completely ignored. What he needed was a subtle charm that Severus would not be able to detect. Just what that charm could be, however, was eluding him at that moment.

Deciding to let the subject drop for the time being, Percy moved over to the bed and unshrunk his luggage. Perhaps he would get lucky and Severus would find the stupid mushroom in the small yard of the cabin when he stepped out to begin his search. Rummaging through his clothing and the books he had brought with them, Percy couldn’t help running through the list of protective charms he knew, however. Most, unfortunately, required an incantation to actually be spoken aloud and, as he was certain Severus would object strenuously to being treated as though he did not know how to protect himself, Percy knew that they were out of the question. Perhaps he could…

“Percy?”

“Mmm?”

Dropping the book in his hands back into his suitcase, Percy turned. Severus was partway through the process of shedding his robes, his fingers working swiftly down the line of buttons on his left forearm. Percy followed their progress for a few seconds before shaking his head and stepping up to Severus to take over the job. Despite their proximity, Percy avoided looking up into Severus’ eyes, knowing that Severus would be able to read his worry in a second. When he finished the first arm, he held his hand out for the other, waiting patiently, but still keeping his eyes averted. It only occurred to him later on that Severus’ silence while being undressed should have been the clue he needed to not be so shocked at Severus’ next move. The second his arm was released from the sleeve, he gripped the top of Percy’s arm, holding him in place.

“Look at me.”

Huffing out a short breath through his nose, Percy pressed his lips together again, unwilling to give what he was feeling away so easily. It seemed his efforts were in vain, however.

“You’re worried.” The confusion to Severus’ voice caused Percy to shoot him an exasperated look. “For me?”

“Oh, for…” Yanking his arm out of Severus’ grip, Percy clenched his hands by his sides in an attempt to prevent himself from swinging them through the air as he spoke. “You know, Severus, for a highly intelligent man, sometimes you can be incredibly dense. _Of course_ I’m worried! You’re about to march out into the middle of a magical thunderstorm in search of a fucking mushroom! And for what? So you can make a Healing potion for the Aurors that they could get just as easily from St. Mungo’s?”

“I make what is requested of me, you know that. If the Auror Department needs–”

“The bloody Auror Department can go hang for all I care!” The fire flared as Percy flung his arm out in frustration. “Does the fact that I don’t want you out in this mean nothing? We have been together for fifteen years and married for twelve of them. You haven’t gone out searching for this mushroom since the year we were married. What makes you think you can even find it again?”

Rolling his eyes, Severus sidestepped him so he could move over to the suitcases beside the bed. “You are being melodramatic. It seems to be a trait your entire family suffers from at some point or another.” 

Percy had thought himself relatively in control of his emotions and reactions up until that point. The small flare of the fire that he had caused a few seconds prior was nothing, however, compared to the fireball he caused when he spun and, with an angry swipe of his wand, flung the suitcases across the room. The move startled even him and he froze, simply staring down at the wand in his hand that he had no recollection of drawing out of its holster. The shuffle of a footstep soon drew him out of his shock, though.

Severus stood beside the bed, his eyes pinned on Percy as Percy stepped slowly towards him. There was no wariness to his gaze; nothing to indicate that he thought himself in danger of being hexed. Percy had to bite back a grin as the thought that he really should curse the bastard just to teach him a lesson occurred to him, but he held back. Raising his wand, he jabbed the tip into Severus’ chest just a little too hard and snarled several protective charms, hoping that layering them would help with their effectiveness.

“If you’re leaving, then leave.”

Turning without meeting Severus’ eyes, Percy stomped over to the bed, flung the curtains on one side open and threw himself down on top of the covers so hard he bounced. With the curtains at the end of the bed still closed, it was impossible for him to know what effect his words had had on Severus, but he found himself on the verge of not caring anymore. If the stubborn bastard wanted to do this, then who was Percy to stop him?

The sound of clothing being shed followed by a quiet sigh and the sound of footsteps moving off towards the back of the cabin had Percy’s hands clenching again, but he held back. When the back door opened and closed softly, he let out a frustrated growl, slammed his wand down on the bedside table and turned onto his side. Still fully clothed, he closed his eyes, not really expecting to sleep, but trying to force it anyway.

A steady thrumming sound woke Percy just over an hour later, according to his hastily cast _tempus_ charm. He shivered as a cold wind whistled through the eaves of the cabin. The light rain drumming on the roof would normally have not been loud enough to wake Percy, but it seemed that his worry over Severus was causing him to sleep much lighter than usual. He lay there for a few minutes, just listening to the sound of the rain on the tin roof. Despite the combination of his anxiety and his lingering irritation at Severus, the sound was quite soothing and he dropped off into another light sleep soon after.

It was only another half hour before Percy was jerked out of sleep again, this time by the cracking down of a much heavier sheet of rain on the tin roof of the cabin. Letting out a low groan as he listened to the rain thudding against both the roof and the window above the bedhead, he couldn’t help the shiver of worry that ripped through him. He was still alone in the bed; a situation he was growing steadily dissatisfied with, but was unsure whether he could do anything about. If Severus wanted this stupid mushroom badly enough to actually want to be out in this kind of rain, then Percy was certain that anything he could do to try to convince him to come back into the safety of the cabin would just be ignored.

The storm appeared to be progressing normally, if what Percy had learned from Severus’ ramblings over the past few weeks was correct. This heavier rain would be falling from a much lower-hanging set of clouds; _shelf clouds_ , his mind supplied. He knew that if the heavier rain had set in already, then the core of the storm would soon be over them, bringing thunder, lightning and possibly even hail along with it. He lay for what seemed like a long time, just listening to the thick rain splattering onto the roof of the cabin, wondering just where Severus could be and whether he was alright. When sleep finally claimed him again, it was uneasy and riddled with half-dreams.

It was the first clap of thunder that woke Percy properly. Or, he reconsidered a few seconds later, rain heavy enough to sound like thunder. The booming sound as it fell in sheets was enough to drown out nearly everything else, with the exception of the clap of real thunder that followed soon after. It was accompanied by a flash of lightning a few seconds later that had Percy’s insides shivering with a fear that chilled him much faster than the gusts still blowing through the curtains surrounding the bed.

This kind of rain was extremely dangerous to be out in; he had known that before Severus had begun researching storms. It was this knowledge that pushed him along as he jumped out of the bed, shoved his glasses back on his nose from where they had been lying on his pillow and began to stride across the room to the backdoor, fully intending to go out into the rain himself to retrieve Severus and drag him back to the cabin. By force if needed. It seemed his intended act of rescue was unnecessary, however, as the door was flung open just before Percy could reach it. It crashed back against the frame, aided by the wind that howled all around them. Severus staggered through the door, his saturated cloak clinging to him and a bag clenched tightly in his hand.

“Severus? Are you alright?”

Percy knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that the question had been stupid. Of course Severus wasn’t alright: he was standing in a one-room cabin in the middle of the night, dripping wet and shivering. He attributed his momentary lapse of sense to the fact that his mind was currently rapidly being overtaken by shock. He took a step forward, reaching out as Severus dropped the bag on the kitchen bench.

“I’m fine. There is no need to worry.”

The slight tremble to Severus’ voice belied his words and finally kicked Percy into action. Stepping forward, he flicked his wand towards the backdoor, closing it in an attempt to stop some of the wind from gusting through the cabin. Running his hands rapidly up and down Severus’ arms and along his back, Percy cast both warming and drying charms in an attempt to stop him from shivering. When neither of them worked, he frowned.

“Magical storm,” Severus supplied by way of explanation, causing Percy to roll his eyes.

“You are a right pain in my arse, you know that?”

“I believe I do not have the required energy to be a pain in your arse right at this particular moment.” Leaning forward to rest his forehead on Percy’s shoulder as Percy began rapidly divesting him of his cloak, Severus sighed. “Give me a few hours, though…” 

“Oh, shut-up will you and help me get this bloody cloak off.”

It turned out that, due to the storm’s magical properties, the rain had broken through every protective charm Percy had placed on Severus earlier that night and he was drenched right through to the skin. Kicking Severus’ clothing aside the second they had it off, Percy immediately dragged him over to the bed and pushed him down on top of the covers. Moving quickly, he stripped himself of his own clothing and climbed onto the bed with his husband. Severus wrapped his arms tightly around Percy’s waist, holding him close as he manoeuvred the both of them so he could drag the covers up.

“Thank you.”

Percy smiled as he settled down properly against Severus’ chest. Wrapped in Severus’ arms and listening to the rain pounding on the roof, he drifted off to sleep again quickly.

It continued to rain and thunder the entire night, each time waking Percy a little before he was soothed back to sleep either by the steady rhythm of the rain or by Severus’ hands running along his back. When he finally awoke properly again, it was due to a sudden silence. His ears began to ring with the absence of the drumming rain and he automatically stuck one of his fingers into his ear to wriggle it in an attempt to stop the ringing.

When it became clear that the rain had stopped completely, with the exception of the drips that still fell onto the roof from the trees outside, he rolled over to stare at Severus. The worry from the night before had, thankfully, disappeared almost the second he had Severus back with him again. There was still a lingering irritation at having been put through what he had been put through creeping down his spine, but it was nowhere near as strong as it had been the night before. In fact, lying there with the last of the rain dropping down onto the roof outside, Percy found that the irritation was slowly seeping away. If Severus had been injured in any way during his ridiculous expedition, then he knew that he would have a right to be angry with him. Having Severus back safely, however, seemed to have allayed that anger. He smiled when Severus scowled just before his eyes fluttered open.

“ _What_ is that bloody dripping sound?”

It was impossible for Percy to prevent the chuckle that escaped him at the tone of annoyance in Severus’ voice. “It’s the last of the rain dripping onto the roof.” Shifting over on the bed a little, he brushed the still-damp hair from Severus’ face. “Trust you to sleep through the heavy rain and thunder, but be woken by the sound of the drips from the trees.”

“I would be forever grateful if the trees would drip a little quieter.” 

Chuckling again, Percy settled down onto the bed, half-on and half-off of Severus, listening to his steady breathing as he drifted back towards sleep. Yes, having him back had definitely settled the irritation Percy had been feeling. Draping his arm across Severus’ waist, he sighed contentedly.

“I love you, you know. Even if you do annoy the hell out of me most of the time.”

“And I am even more grateful for that fact.”

Percy smiled. Warm and happy, he drifted off again to the sound of the last of the rain dripping onto the roof.


End file.
